This is a timeline of Indian history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in India and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of India.

Year Events
1947 Hundreds of thousands die in widespread communal bloodshed after partition. (to 1948)
1948 Mahatma Gandhi assassinated by a right wing Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse.
1948 War with Pakistan over disputed territory of Kashmir.
1948 Telangana and other princely states integrated in Indian union
1949 Cease-fire in Kashmir,indian Constitution signed and adopted(Nov.26)
1950 Constitution of India came into effect and Jawaharlal Nehru became the Indian first prime minister (26th January)
1951 First Five-year Plan. First Asian Games held in Delhi
1951 Congress Party wins first general elections under leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru. (to 1952)
1952 First General Elections of the Lok Sabha
1953 Conquest of Mt.Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary
1956 Second Five-Year Plan launched
1957 Second General Elkections;decimal coinage introduced, Liberation of Goa.
1962 Third General Elections in India; Chinese attack on India (Dec 20 )
1962 War over disputed territory of Kashmir with China
1962 India won Diu, Daman and Goa from Portuguese India.
1963 Nagaland becomes the 16th indian State
1964 Death of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
1965 Second war with Pakistan over Kashmir.
1966 Tashkent Pact; Death of Lal Bahadur Shastri; Mrs. Indira Gandhi elected Prime Minister of India.
1967 Fourth General Elections;Dr Zakir Hussain elected the third president of India
1969 V.V.Giri elected President of India, Nationalisation of the leading banks by Presidential ordinance.
1970 Meghalaya designated as autonomous state.
1971 Himachal Pradesh becomes a State
1971 Third war with Pakistan over creation of Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan.
1971 Twenty-year treaty of friendship signed with Soviet Union.
1972 Shimla agreement; Death of C.Rajagopalachari
1973 Mysore State renamed Karnataka
1974 India explodes a nuclear device; Fakhuruddin Ali Ahmed elected as fifth President Sikkim becomes on associate State of India
1974 India explodes first nuclear device in underground test.
1975 India launches ˜Aryabhata’; Sikkim becomes 22nd State of the Indian Union
1975 Indira Gandhi declares state of emergency after being found guilty of electoral malpractice.
1975 Nearly 1,000 political opponents imprisoned and programme of compulsory birth control introduced. (to 1977)
1976 India and China establish diplomatic relations
1977 Neelam Sanjiva Reddy elected sixth President of India
1977 Indira Gandhi’s Congress Party loses general elections. Janata Party comes to power.Communist party of India comes into power in West Bengal.
1979 Morarji Desai resigns as Prime Minister,Charan Singh becomes Prime Minister;Charan Singh resigns ( Aug 20 ) Sixth Lok Sabha dissolved
1979 Janata Party Splits. Chaudhary Charan Singh becomes Prime Minister.
1980 Seventh General Elections;Congress I comes to power;Mrs Indira Gandhi sworn in as Prime Minister; Sanjay Gandhi dies in an air crash, India Launches SLV-3 into space carrying Rohini Satellite
1980 Indira Gandhi returns to power heading Congress party splinter group, Congress (Indira).
1982 Longest bridge in Asia opened ( March 2 );
Acharya J.B. Kripalani dies ( March 19)
INSAT.1A launched;
Giani Zail Singh elected President of India (July 15)
Acharua Vinobha dies (Nov 15)
IX Asian Games inaugurated (Nov 19)
1983 N. T. Rama Rao NTR’s 9 month old Telugu Desam Comes in to Power in AP marks a new Challenger post Loknayak Jayprakash Nararayan against Indira
1984 Operation Blue Star in Punjab;
Rakesh Sharma goes into space;
Mrs. Indira Gandhi assassinated; Rajiv Gandhi becomes PM
1984 Troops storm Golden Temple – Sikhs’ most holy shrine – to flush out Sikh militants pressing for self-rule, called Operation Blue Star.
1984 Indira Gandhi assassinated by Sikh bodyguards, following which her son, Rajiv, takes over.
1985 Rajiv-Longowal accord signed; Sant H.S. Longowal killed elections in Punjab; Assam accord; VII Five-Year Plan launched
1986 Mizoram accord.
1987 R.Venkataraman elected President; Shankar Dayal Sharma elected Vice-President of India, Bofors gun and Fairfax controversies
1987 India deploys troops for peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict.
1989 Ram Shilanyas Puja at Ayodhyat; India’s first IRBM ˜ Agni’ successfully launched from Orissa (May 22); Trishul Missile test fised (June 5); Second successful launch of Prithvi (Sept 27); Rajiv Government loses poll‚ and resigns (Nov.29); Jawahar Rozgar Yojna launched (Nov.29);National front leader V.P. Singh sworn in as seventh PM, New cabinet sworn in (Dec.2), Ninth Lok Sabha constituted
1989 Falling public support leads to Congress defeat in general election.
1989 National Front (India) Headed by N. T. Rama Rao and led by Janata party formed and stormed in to power with outside support from BJP and CPI.
1990 Last of IPKF return home (March 25); Indian Airlines A-320 Airbus Crash (Feb. 14); Janata Dal splits; BJP withdraws support to the Government;Advani takes out Rath Yatra and is arrested, Mandal Report‚ implemented announced by V.P. Singh Violence in Ayodhya due to Ram Janam Bhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute
1990 Muslim separatist groups begin campaign of violence in Kashmir.
1991 Gulf War breaks out (Jan. 17); Rajiv Gandhi assassinated (May 21); X Lok Sabha constituted (June 20); P. V. Narasimha Rao becomes Prime Minister
1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassinated by suicide bomber sympathetic to Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers.
1991 Economic reform programme begun by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao.
1992 India establishes full diplomatic ties with Israel (Jan. 29);
Bharat Ratna and Oscar winner Satyajit Ray dies (April 23);
S.D.Sharma elected President (July 25);
INS Shakti-first indigeneously built submarine was launched on Feb. 7
1992 Hindu extremists demolish mosque in Ayodhya, triggering widespread Hindu-Muslim violence.
1992 Over 200 people die in Cuttack in Odisha, after drinking illegally brewed liquor in the 1992 Odisha liquor deaths incident.
1993 Ordinance to acquire 67.33 acres in Ayodhya (Jan 7); Massive security falls in BJP rally; Wave of bombing leaves 300 dead in Bombay; Insat-2B becomes fully operational; Earthquake in Maharashtra
1994 Government monopoly over civil aviation ends; Storm over GATT treaty; Plague outbreak; Sushmita Sen-Miss Universe; Aishwarya Rai-Miss World
1995 Mayawati First Dalit Chief Minister of UP; BJP comes to power in Maharashtra and Gujarat, Janata Dal in Karnataka and Congress in Orissa; Indian National Congress (T) formed; President’s Rule in UP after fall of Mayawati; INSAT 2C and IRSI-C launched
1995 West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu made the first call from Kolkata to inaugurate the cellular services in India
1996 Hawala takes toll of several Union Ministers ans opposition leaders; PSLV D3 launched on March 21 with IRSP-3 ushering new era in India space programme; Eleventh Lok Sabha Elections held on April 127-BJP emerges as the single largest party
1996 Congress suffers worst ever electoral defeat as Hindu nationalist BJP emerges as largest single party.
1996 The Amarnath Yatra tragedy in which at least 194 pilgrims are reported to have frozen to death in northern Kashmir after being stranded by violent rain and snow storms.
1997 On August 15, India celebrated its 50th year of Independence
1998 Death of Mother Teressa; Atal Behari Vajpayee becomes Indian Prime Minister; India explodes its second nuclear device (Pokhran II)
1998 BJP forms coalition government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
1998 India carries out nuclear tests, leading to widespread international condemnation.
1999 India Airlines plane IC-814 hijacked by terrorists and taken to Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Dec 24, 1999. Three militants released by Indian govt.for the freedom of hostages kept as passengers. I
˜Operation Vijay’ launched by Indian Army to flush out Pakistani infiltrators inside LoC in the Kargil sector of J&K, India wins battle.
1999 Vajpayee makes historic bus trip to Pakistan to meet Premier Nawaz Sharif and to sign bilateral Lahore peace declaration.
1999 Tension in Kashmir leads to brief war with Pakistan-backed forces in the icy heights around Kargil in Indian-held Kashmir.
1999 Cyclone devastates eastern state of Odisha, leaving at least 10,000 dead.
2000 US President Bill Clinton visits India during March 2000. Three new states Chhatisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand created.India’s population crossed one billion mark.
2000 India marks the birth of its billionth citizen.
2001 ˜Agra Summit’ between India and Pakistan in July 2001; Worst natural calamity of India: Gujarat Earthquake in Jan 2001;
GSLV launched successfully in April 2001 and PSLC-C3 launch conducted in October 2001.
2002 Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, is elected President of India;
One of the most harrific communal roits in recent history, the Godhra Incident, happens on Feb 27, 2002 in Gujarat;
National Water Policy announced in April, which aims at integrating water resources develpment and management for optimal and sustainable utilisation.